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The ARSE Factor

"..in our experience consultations are largely public relations exercises; the choice is often almost predetermined, uncertainty is presented as fact and there is a dearth of evidence made available which local people can consider in expressing their views. It is not surprising that the public often feel that NHS consultation is a sham...

if there is consultation it should not be pseudo-consultation, with no proper regard for evidence or justification or a full evaluation of the options. The public are right to react against spin and should be treated as adults - able to balance clinical and financial arguments and able to say no."

The Sham of NHS Consultation on Service Provision by Sean Boyle and Roger Steer :www.radstats.org.uk/no096/BoyleSteer96.pdf

It's taken me all this time, all these months of thinking that maybe I was being listened to, that at last just maybe there is hope, to find out the hard facts of life as expressed above.

So much unspeakable effort has been put into this NHS consultation process , by us patients and carers and for what ?

I am reminded of what Hugh Marriott expresses so well in a "Selfish Pig's Guide to Caring" Time Warner Book 2003 p. 325 : he calls it the ARSE factor when dealing with officials - Advice Reliability Statistical Evaluation Scale . It means that "the reliability of any piece of information is in inverse ratio to the degree of emphasis in which it is given."

If the NHS ever happens to tell you in utter confidence that you will be listened to, that you will be fully consulted with , think very carefully before wasting your precious time.

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